


Drunken Chivalry

by 49Times



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Hop is an idiot, With noble intentions, still an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-18
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-08-09 12:39:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7802197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/49Times/pseuds/49Times
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Hop gets back into town, but before Lonnie leaves it, they run into each other at a bar. It does not go well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drunken Chivalry

  

He’s not sure what it is about this particular night, what factors come together to create that perfect combination of rage and disgust that turns him stupid, but the moment he sees Lonnie stumble out of the bar, arm around a laughing blonde a decade younger than him or more, he knows it’s time to pick a fight.

 

The couple staggers their way towards his car, Lonnie shuffling through his pockets for keys. Hop tosses his cigarette on the floor, stomps it out and steps towards them.

 

He’s drunk. That’s definitely a part of it.

 

He’s always fucking loathed Lonnie Byers. That’s another part.

 

But he knows there’s more to it than that, and knows just who the more-to-it has to do with.

 

Maybe it’s because the last several times he’s been in the shop, Joyce Byers was there working. Every goddamn time he steps inside it, she seems to be there and he hasn’t seen eyes that look quite so tired since back when Sarah was sick and he and his wife never slept more than a few hours a night between them.

 

Maybe it’s because last Tuesday, he went in at eight in the morning, and she was there, and when he swung back through at nine that same night for a pack of smokes and she was _still_ there, looking even more exhausted than she’d been in the morning. Still, she managed to give him a tired smile and make a wry joke about their mutual vice as she handed him his cigarettes though.

 

Maybe it’s because the last time he saw her outside of the damn shop, where she seems to pretty much live these days, she was outside Wagner’s Ice Cream Parlour with her youngest boy and she’d seemed genuinely happy.

 

The kid was telling her some big story with exaggerated hand gestures and dramatic sound effects, and Joyce had this completely adoring, completely amused expression on her face, a spark in her eyes that he’s never seen once in the fucking shop. He caught her eye as the kid pointed a finger-gun at her, shouting _‘And then he went ‘pew pew pew kasshhhaaaa!’ and the guy’s head was just_ gone! _’_ and raised his eyebrows, smirking at the back of the kid’s head. Joyce flashed him a huge grin and gave a little a shrug as if to say _I don’t completely get it either, but it’s amazing._

 

As he waited for his cone, he watched her shake her head and say, “Your ice cream’s melting, sweetie,” then reach over with napkins in an attempt to clean him up as he soldiered on. He’d seen the love in her eyes and thought with a slight pang that that’s how she deserves to be spending her days, not on her feet from sun up to sundown behind a register.

 

Maybe it’s because Lonnie is here pissing away money on booze, when everyone knows he works two days a week at best, and she’s probably lucky to get one dinner a week in with the kids she so obviously adores, that’s she’s struggling to keep a roof over their heads while he fucks his way through the town. Not that Hop has been great about that himself lately, but at least his wife is officially an ex in another city, and the women he fucks are  _women,_ not girls half a minute out of high school. 

 

Maybe it’s because Hop knows how important it is to soak up every minute you’ve got with the people you love because it can all be ripped away from you at any minute. He knows now, that it’s better to turn down that overtime every chance you get, if it means you can be home for dinner and do things on the weekends that lights up young eyes. Maybe it’s because he knows the dirtbag is robbing her of watching her kids grow up and he doesn’t have even one drop of remorse about it.

 

More than that, maybe it’s because he remembers Joyce as she was long ago, before he ever left Hawkins. To call them friends would be a stretch, but they found each other behind the school now and then for a smoking buddy.

 

He remembers her as bright-eyed, sharp and sassy bordering on flirty- though never enough that you could be sure that she meant it. He usually got the feeling she found his swagger and bravado more amusing than attractive, and thought his best lines were pure cheese, but they could keep a conversation going for long enough to finish a cigarette, and they usually made each other laugh at least once.

 

He remembers the glimmer of mischief in her dark eyes when she’d casually rib him about his dating habits and the little mouth twisting in outrage when he’d judge her back for being with scumbag Lonnie. Christ, he never thought she’d actually _marry_ the guy, never thought she’d allow him to choke out her fire ‘til a few sad embers were all that remained.

 

If he had, maybe he’d have... hell, he doesn’t know what he would’ve done. Shaken her. Called her an idiot. Kissed her.

 

He shakes his head. That’s a weird thought and anyway, that ship sailed long ago.

Now all he can do is lean casually on Lonnie’s car and say, “You’re not actually planning on driving this thing tonight, are you Byers?”

 

Lonnie, who’d been slathering the blonde in sloppy, aggressive kisses up against the car, pulls back and gives him a filthy luck. “Fuck off, Hop.”

 

“Hey now,” he says, tapping his badge. He’d gone straight to the bar after he’d gotten off duty. “Show some respect.”

 

Lonnie scoffs. “You serious? I saw you throwing back whiskies in there, Hopper. Like you ain’t headed home in your car to park on your own damn lawn when you’re done here. Fucking hypocrite.”

 

He’s not wrong, but that’s not the point right now. He just wants to wipe the smirk off his smug fucking face.

 

“Byers, you can give me your keys now or or you can spend a night in the goddamn drunk tank. Doesn’t matter to me which it is.”

 

“You’re in no fucking position to be arresting anyone right now,” Lonnie spits. “How they allowed a pill-popping shitheap like you to come back here and be the fuckin’ _chief_ , when everyone knows you got thrown out of your last job for being a complete fuck up is a mystery to me.... I guess maybe they took pity on you, on account of the dead-”

 

His fist connects with Lonnie’s jaw so hard and fast that there’s nothing he can do but let it connect, full force, and fall hard on his ass. The girl he’s with is shrieking, and Lonnie’s spitting out blood, shoving her away as she tries to help him up off the pavement.

 

Hop looks at the scene before him and starts to come to his senses. Giving Byers a look of pure disgust, he turns and walks back towards the bar.

 

That was stupid. He was stupid to try that.

 

Yeah, he could throw Byers in the tank or slap him with a fine, but he knows Joyce’d be the one having to pay it and would have less time than ever to spend with her kids.

 

This whole thing- for _some_ reason- seems to have been about her. Somehow this entire act of drunken chivalry was a hare-brained attempt at defending her honor, even though she wasn’t here to see it and would definitely be sickened with them both if she was.

 

Anyway- It’d be a shame if he made things any worse on her.

 

So he walks inside, sits on his usual stool and orders another drink.

  
The next time he sees her though, she looks just as tired and low as ever as she stands at her post- and Hop wishes he’d taken a couple of Lonnie Byers teeth out with that punch.

But when he sets his orange juice down on the counter and she sees it's him, she looks him right in the eye and says, "I hear you beat the shit out of my husband the other night." It's all very matter-of-fact, and he can't get a read on her thoughts about it. 

"It was just one punch," he shrugs. "And he deserved it." 

She nods quietly and scans his juice. She waits until her head is ducked down towards the cash register to do it, but there's no mistaking the smile that flickers across her lips. 

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is love!


End file.
